There are several instances where the birth of democracy can be traced back to ancient Greece. “The Greeks are often credited with pioneering a democratic government that went on to influence the structure of the United States” (National Geographic Society, 2019). Knowing how Greece ran their government in ancient times leads us to where the basis of the current U.S. democracy comes from. The states in the U.S. are structured very much the same as what the Greeks called polis or city-state (NGS, 2019). This is how the idea of the states came into play as they did not want to separate the colonies. The states act much like the city states of ancient Greece in the idea that they are run separately yet they can band together to protect the country as a whole (NGS, 2019).
The way that laws are structured in the U.S. is based off of the ways that the ancient Greeks had their laws structured. “In ancient Greece the idea of rule of law came from the philosopher Aristotle’s belief in natural law. He claimed the existence of a higher justice in nature—certain essential rights—that superseded the laws written by humans” (NGS, 2019). There is a lot of desire in the U.S. to have laws that protect such Human Rights. The laws that we currently have stem from the idea that we should strive for justice and still protect the basic rights of the people that live here.
Even the way the government is structured is much like that of ancient Greece. This goes even into how the constitution is structured much like The Constitution of the Athenians, both documents lay out the structure and the checks and balances that are placed to keep the government power in balance with the power of the people (NGS, 2019). This is all in play so that no one person can come in and be above the law (NGS, 2019).There are reasons that these things have been put into place and we should always remember that they are there and that they are there for a reason. It is important to remember that the Constitution is there in order know the rights that the people have and to remember that it is the law of the land and that it is there to help people with rights such as trial by jury and other similar rights.
There are even similarities in the way that the U.S. votes compared to that of the ancient Greeks (NGS, 2019). The way that every citizen has a right to their own thoughts, and they all have some say in the laws that are passed (NGS, 2019). This is something that has always been important to me and that I feel a lot of people take for granted. I think that many of us are under the impression that what I do does not matter, but if we were to all think like that then it would not keep those that are in power in check. I think that it is one of the most important things to remember that no matter what we do it has some effect in the bigger picture. This being an election year really makes us take these things into perspective.
When the rights to vote were first set in place, they very much so resembled that of ancient Greece. Only males over the age of 18 were permitted to vote for elected officials. When it was first put into place in the U.S. only land-owning white males 18 and older were permitted to vote for those that would be elected into the representative democracy (NGS, 2019). The idea of a representative democracy was where the idea of what is currently the U.S. Congress started. The idea was that there should be officials that are elected to represent certain areas, this is how the electoral college came to be. “The principles behind the ancient Greeks’ democratic system of government are still in use today” (NGS, 2019). Many countries, not just the U.S. have similar systems that are created to give citizens that right to vote in someone that will represent them. Around the world people everywhere are looking for a way to have a voice and it seems that the Greeks were some of the first to put this idea into play, I for one am glad that the idea has stuck and that I live in a county that practices it.
Resources
National Geographic Society. (2019, March 15). Greek Influence on U.S. Democracy. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/greek-influence-us-democracy/
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